Game Night
by chalantness
Summary: He whipped his head around and a mind-numbing chill shot through his veins as he saw, faced down on the ground, the white "8" staring back at him and not moving.


**Fandom.** MikeTina and a bit of PuckRachel if you squint

Disclaimer: Glee © Fox/Ryan Murphy

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**Game Night**

By sakuracherish814

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It was one of those moments where your life flashes before your eyes, except it wasn't his life, and, as far as he was concerned, this was a hell of a lot worse.

She had been running. The crowd was cheering for her, going wild, and he would have, too—that was his _girlfriend_ out there, stealing the show—if he wasn't so busy trying to keep everyone off of her. But, damn, she was fast. She just grabbed that ball and bolted straight towards that end zone. For a split second, he knew that they had this.

And then this feeling trembled over him. Mike saw a blur of white and orange but, stupidly, he kept running. Why the hell had he kept running?

The crowd let out a collective gasp before silence swept over them.

He whipped his head around and a mind-numbing chill shot through his veins as he saw, faced down on the ground, the white "8" staring back at him and not moving.

For a moment, his heart stopped altogether.

And then he ran the few yards to where she lay, shoving the other team aside, yanking his helmet off, and dropping to the ground beside her.

"Tina!" His voice was strangled and he gingerly placed his hand on her shoulder. He was vaguely aware of everyone else gathering around him, of the doctors making their way too slowly across the field, but his blood was cold and the air had been sucked right out of him. That euphoric feeling just seconds ago had been yanked out from underneath him and—oh, _god_, why wasn't she moving?

Finally, the doctor dropped to his knee beside her and gently rolled her onto her back.

He gulped. Hard. "Is she breathing?"

The doc didn't answer. He just pulled out a small light and flashed it in her eyes and, hell, she still wasn't moving.

The seconds dragged on for hours, perfectly in time with his thumping heart.

Damn, why had he let this happen? He had been selfish, just wanted to be able to play tonight, and she had been all cute and excited and he knew the dangers but he caved and—

Her hand twitched.

Slowly, she reached for her mouthpiece and yanked it out. Her shoulders rose and sank as she tried to draw in even breaths.

"Did we win?" Her voice was raspy and small but always the most beautiful thing he's ever heard.

He blew out a breath of relief and smiled widely at her. She blinked a couple of times, her vision settling, and her eyes were trained on him as she beamed right back.

Taking her arm as the doctor held the other, they hoisted her up with little effort. Even with all those pads on, she seemed as weightless as a penny. As soon as the doctor let go, she ripped off her helmet and he had both arms around her, holding her as gingerly yet as physically close as possible.

"Was I good out there?"

She could obviously sense his worry (he was still shaking), and she cradled his face with her hands, offering a smile.

"You were awesome, Tee," he assured. "Just… amazing, but—" he kissed the top of her forehead "—God, I thought something had happened."

"It takes more than a tackle to keep me down, Mike," she teased lightly.

He exhaled a laugh and nodded in agreement. "Definitely. But," he peered at her hesitantly, "listen. I want you to sit out the rest of the game."

She blinked. "What?"

"We don't know how badly you got hit—"

"Mike," she interrupted, laughing slightly at the idea, "I told you, I'm fine."

"Maybe, but I'm not going to risk it for some stupid game."

She spoke with a little more force. "This _stupid game_ is very important to you and the team and everyone, and you know it. You guys can't go out there and play if I sit this out."

He sighed in frustration. He saw that fire in her eyes, that determination of a girl on a mission, and usually he admired it. But now, it just exasperated him. "Tee—"

"You guys get tackled all the time!" she reminded.

"It's not the same—"

"It kind of is. Mike, I can't believe you're—the only reason you guys got to play was because of us. And now you want to throw it away, and all of our hard work, because of some tackle? I—"

"I can't handle that again!"

She flinched away at his sudden outburst and he blew out a sigh to calm himself, pulling her back in.

"Look, I know how strong you are. But I'm not that strong. You go out there and watch me get tackled every other night, but just _thinking_ that it could happen to you again…"

He trailed off, looking away, and suddenly her eyes felt very watery. "Mike…" she breathed, stroking his cheek with her thumb. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"You're sorry?" He shook his head. "No, I'm sorry I yelled."

She pulled his face to hers, pressing their lips together in a gentle yet heady kiss. She could've sworn she heard a couple of _aw_s from the crowd, but she was too distracted to confirm it.

When they parted, their breaths heavy and staggered, she pressed their foreheads together. "You mean so much to me, you know that? So I'm sorry for making you worry. And don't apologize, because I know you just want to take care of me. But I care for _you_ too. I want to see you happy, and I know that playing this game with your friends and not having to forfeit will make you happy."

"Tina—"

She silenced him with her lips. "Let me do this, okay? If not for you, than because I want to."

He looked at her for a long moment. Even if she was a little banged up, she still managed to have complete control over the situation. _This girl…_

Sighing, he relented. "Alright."

She blinked, surprised for a second, and then beamed, about to kiss him again.

But he pulled just far enough for her to miss. "_But_," he went on, "you stick to the original plan and just lay there. I don't care what Beiste tells you or what you want to do, do _not_ run for that ball."

Frowning, she drew in a breath of protest. "Mike—"

"_No._ Just, God, please? Stay the hell down until the clock runs out for half time. Okay?"

"So do you plan on throwing this away? That's not much better than keeping me _off_ the field—"

"Tina!" he sighed, "Okay, the team is in the bleachers and there's no way in hell they're going to let this drag into the second half. So when that happens, you won't need to endanger yourself."

"Mike—"

But she stopped herself, catching that look in his eyes. It was half forceful, half pleading, and completely shaken.

_As if I can put him through something like that again_, she thought to herself. She blew out a breath, and all of her protest went with it. "Okay."

He blinked. "Okay?"

She nodded, her lip twitching up into a smile. "Okay," she repeated.

Relief washed over him and Tina smiled a little wider to see that some of the color had returned to his beautiful face. "Okay!"

She laughed teasingly. "I can't believe it. _I'm_ making compromises for a _guy_. What's with that?"

He laughed as well and muttered, "You love me too much," before dipping his head in for another fierce kiss that made her whimper at his taste and shudder at the force of it. When they finally pulled apart, her head was light and a bit dizzy, but she smiled giddily up at him. She knew that the night was still young, and, as she kissed him soundly again, even longer this time, it was beginning to brighten—

"Chang, quit making out with your girlfriend and save it for the after-party, we've got to finish this half!"

They pulled apart, laughing, and grabbed their helmets before rejoining their team on the field.

She took her place next to Rachel, whose cheeks were flushed (which he suspected had less to do with the fact she was tired and more to do with the fact Puck had been whispering things into her ear before she got there) and Mike stole one last kiss before she got her helmet on.

Yeah, the night was definitely looking up.

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**A/n.** I wanted to do something on the Super Bowl episode! It didn't turn out too great, but I figured there is no harm in posting it. The fanfiction world could always use the Mike/Tina loveliness!

I could go on and on about how amazing that episode, and this season, was but I'll just leave it at that I'm so glad _Glee_ is back!

_So you read it. Love it? Hate it? Please review it!_


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